Friends!

Friends! Soon Ukraine and Israel will shoot a movie together. Agreement on joint film production was approved by Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. It was signed on the 22 of December, 2015 in Jerusalem during a visit of Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko, and now finally accepted. Under the agreement, the two governments will encourage joint film production of Israel and Ukraine. The agreement will be valid during 5 years. If cooperation will be successful, it will be prolonged.

I think this is a very interesting step for the development of Ukraine-Israeli relations. I often say that the most important thing today for our two nations is to learn modern culture of each other and forget about the outdated notions of Ukrainian or Jewish. Cinema is the best tool for this knowledge. Also in Ukraine and in Israel there are many young and talented artists who should realize their creative vision. For it will help raise funds for co-production, because from now on Ukraine-Israeli films directors can ask for funding from the State Fund funds of both countries. In addition, films that will be created as a result of cooperation will receive benefits. But only if all who participate in work on films will be citizens or Ukraine or Israel. If someone from another country will have will to collaborate, it must compensate 10% of the budget of the film.

The history of Israeli cinema is near to Ukrainian. In the 1980s cinemas in Israel survived a decline, but then, during 1990, when Ukraine was building independent film making, revived. Israeli cinema boom came in the 2000s years. Soon came the worldwide recognition - Israeli films almost every year received awards at various film festivals and was nominated for "Oscar". Prominent bands of that period - "Free Zone" with Natalie Portman, "Broken Wings" directed by Bergman CIRA, "Beaufort" directed by Josef Sider. In 2013, t two documentaries under Israeli production received a nomination for "Oscar". Ukrainian cinema also extremely pleased the audience - such wonderful films as "Guide", "Tribe", "Enduring", "Parajanov". Watching such a strong Ukrainian Cinema you can easily understand - if the industry would have had more support, than all the awards of the world could be gained. Agreement on joint film production with Israel is a mutual facilitate. This support can help the two countries to reach a new level. I warmly welcome this decision.